This paper clarifies the life courses of graduates of Yamaguchi Middle School by using the alumni bulletin to investigate both advancement (admission to higher stage of education) and employment. Findings illustrate the social function of Yamaguchi Middle School.

First, the life courses of the Yamaguchi middle school graduates written in "The Annals of Yamaguchi Prefectural Yamaguchi High School" were established. Next, the relation between advancement and employment was analyzed using a register of graduates included in the alumni bulletin. Furthermore, above-mentioned relation was confirmed from the description of graduate's memoirs.

Through the above analysis, this paper makes clear the following points.

First, many graduates who were the subject of this analysis were engaged in government services and self-employment. Their fields of learning covered a variety of subjects. Second, there were a lot of cases in which those who learned science, engineering, politics and economics were engaged in commerce and manufacturing. They contributed to the development of commerce and manufacturing in Yamaguchi Prefecture. Third, there were cases of graduates engaged in overseas industry who had experienced a school excursion.

In this paper, the relationship between middle school graduates and society was more concretely described than in previous research.

Recent studies on didactics in German conduct a series of empirical research on teaching and learning in order to understand the structure of teaching in class. Gruschka(2012)paved a distinctive way for pedagogical research from a standpoint of critical theory. He applied transcription to the methodology of interpreting class activities, and established standards for maintaining and publishing these transcripts. He pointed out the problem of "didaktisierung," that didactic operation inhibits student formation. He criticized didactic approaches which do not facilitate student cultivation.

However, his perspective on pedagogical research did not sufficiently consider students' learning in class. Taking this into consideration, Pollmanns(2014)research emphasizes analysis of students' notes and interviews, by proposing the concept of "Aneigung" or appropriation in her study. Specifically, she captured this concept "Aneigung" from both viewpoint of formal and material, which then enabled her to clarify the relationship between teaching and appropriation.

The significance of their research on teaching and learning lies in the fact that they reconstructed didactic theory with focusing on clarifying the teaching and appropriation on lessons.

This paper analyzes how Bildung theory and educational reform presented by Wilhelm von Humboldt have been accepted and re-interpreted by researchers of modern German, focusing on the series of studies conducted by D. Benner. Humboldt is prominent for his Bildung theory that formulated the mechanism of holistic self-cultivation. E. Spranger in the beginning of 20^th century developed a significant interpretation about Humboldt's Bildung theory. His emphasis about Humboldt's Bildung theory was on "highest" and "most harmonic" development of an individual toward being assimilated to the totality of universe. Benner, however, cast doubt on Spranger's interpretation, stating that his idea thoroughly ignored Humboldt's unique questionings toward modernity, the era of post- French Revolution. Re-interpretation by Benner proposes non-harmonic and specific development of an individual who must keep in touch with the world. He articulates "Interaction" between "I" and "world" is the definitive formula for human development, which premises non-identical relationship between "I" and "world". Benner's re-interpretation paved ways for educational research, including: inquiry on general pedagogical theory, historiography of "Reformpädagogik," and critical analysis of ongoing curriculum reform led by OECD. Examination of how Benner's studies on/through Humboldt are applied in these three realms shows us the significance of Humboldt's theory, and provides us with a critical perspective on current curriculum issues.

The present study clarifies the characteristics of the Life-Centered Curriculum for Kindergarten, published by the Kindergarten Attached to Tokushima University Tokushima Normal School in 1949, one year after the publication of the "Hoiku Yoryo"(National Curriculum Standards for Early Childhood Education: 1948). One trend that has been pointed out among the kindergarten curricula of post-war Japan has been the creation and expansion of curricula that adopt approaches prevalent in elementary school and above. In this study, we attempt to present and analyze the Life-Centered Curriculum for Kindergarten established from a standpoint that recognized the unique aspects of kindergarten education. The study revealed the following three characteristics of this plan from the perspective of life-centered childhood education. First, the plan laid the foundation of an education of nature perspective, or an education specific to the developmental demand of the child. Second, it attempted to select and develop educational content focusing on direct experiences from which children's curiosity stemmed, Third, it proposed education through the environment, where teachers aimed to create a setting in which children were encouraged to play freely under their guidance. These characteristics give the Life-Centered Curriculum for Kindergarten historical significance, as they provide a new perspective from which to understand the character of Japan's post-war kindergarten curricula.